New ZealandLanguage
New Zealand Sign Linguistic communication or NZSL Māori: te reo Turi is the main Linguistic communication of the deaf community in New Zealand. It became an official language of New Zealand in April 2006 under the New ZealandLanguage Act 2006. The intention of the act was to gain rights as alive as obligations in the usage of NZSL throughout the legal system as well as to ensure that the Deaf community had the same access to government information & services as everybody else. According to the 2013 Census, over 20,000 New Zealanders know NZSL.
New ZealandLanguage has its roots in British Sign Language BSL, and may be technically considered a dialect of British, Australian and New Zealand Sign Language BANZSL. There are 62.5% similarities found in British Sign Language and NZSL, compared with 33% of NZSL signs found in American Sign Language.
Like other natural sign languages, it was devised by and for deaf people, with no linguistic connective to a spoken or written language.
NZSL uses the same two-handed manual alphabet as BSL British Sign Language and Auslan Australian Sign Language.
It uses more lip-patterns in conjunction with hand and facial movement to cue signs than BSL, reflecting New Zealand's history of ]